I usually don't post about our business but thought I'd send out a message about our business we have from home. We bought our ink business from another homeschool family back in January and my husband has been doing this full-time since. We're hoping to supplement our ink business income with my dh doing medical transcription from home although he has yet to find a job since completing his training.
Anyways, if you've never tried ink cartridge refilling, it's an AWESOME way to save tons of $ on ink and if you print lots as a homeschool family like we do, that's a huge savings! For example, if you buy our black ink refill kit with ink that is specific for your printer and directions etc, you spend about $25 + shipping. This is enough ink to refill your cartridges 10-20 times depending on which printer model you have. You will need to buy a replacement cartridge sometime in there as the print head wears out eventually but then you can refill that cartridge. This comes to only a couple of dollars to refill your ink instead of paying often $20-30 for a new cartridge. We've been doing this with 2 of our printers since Jan. and it's worked GREAT! We have a 100% satisfaction guarantee and provide technical support if needed so there's no risk involved. Our website answers other FAQ's about ink refilling.
We also sell remanufactured and "generic" cartridges which are also way cheaper than the typical manufacturer's cartridge, and toner supplies for laser printers and copiers.
I encourage you to check us out at www.encoreink.com . I also have a homeschool / family section of our website that I've put a few articles onto. If you're interested in getting your ink even cheaper, consider referring others to us. If you're interested in this we can give you a coupon code that you and others can use for additional savings and we can give you details on how you can earn your ink for even cheaper. We appreciate all the referrals we can get! Please be encouraged to link to this article for us on your site or ask for a referral code!
Everyone needs to buy printer ink eventually - I hope some of you can help support a fellow homeschool family by buying through us and encouraging other homeschoolers to do the same! It's much better than sending your $ to Office Max or wherever else it might go!
Anyways, hope you don't mind the commercial too much. It's just that I never realized how cheap ink really was and how much $ could be saved this way! God bless!
It's been a long time since I've posted here! I've been taking some much-needed time getting ready for school and getting started with that. I also have another blog at www.homeschoolblogger.com/joymommy that I'm a bit more consistent at updating so if you want a little more recent info, check out my blog there!
We've been looking at the Heart of Wisdom approach to homeschooling by Robin Sampson. I've really had my eyes and heart open to how the Lord would have us homeschooling in reading her book, "The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach". What an incredible resource. I love that her book shows how to bring your own resources together with the Bible as your main "textbook" for your schooling. Robin does have great unit studies that you can buy to make things easier, but for us I'm looking to branch out on my own and Robin has really shown me how to teach what the Lord would have us teach!
If you have any doubts about whether you're teaching your kids what the Lord would have you teach them, check out this book. It's so inspirational, enlightenting, and practical! The last section of the book is a list of living books to teach history, science and Bible with reviews of them. The book is over 500 pages long and has been great for us!
Otherwise, my baby had her 1st birthday! Hard to believe she's getting so grown up! Our dog is giving us stress as we learn how to train a dog. He runs off if given the chance. Fall is definitely here and the weather has turned cool. We may have our 1st frost tonight. So life is moving along! I pray that the Lord would direct us each day as we follow him!
A good trip to town for groceries (20 minutes away)
Grandma taking us out to Burger King and the kids playing well in the play land with no unruly kids there (mine included)
Finding ds' shoes that he left at our church's "lake lot" Sunday
A sense of ministry with a needy family in town - new friendship with this single mom and ideas for helping them out
Good conversation with my dh while out driving to town - finances doing ok with our business at home, discussed our upcoming trip over labor day to see friends back in the Twin Cities where we used to live
Great time of the kids singing hymns / Bible songs while I played the piano. It got us all out of a negative mood and into an attitude of praising the Lord.
Reading the Bible to my 6 young kids successfully. Feeling like they're actually listening when I read and listening in church as well!
Successfully getting supper-type meal ready for lunch without my dh around with all the kids helping nicely. This process often ends with kids fighting or teasing as they're a little unruly before mealtimes.
Lo's
The dog waking us up at 4:30 A.M. yelping because of the rain. He does have a kennel / shelter but we've had so little rain since getting him, he's not used to dealing with rainy conditions.
Teasing, mean attitudes in some of the children in the morning.
Letting go of our jogging stroller while keeping a good hold of our dog's leash when he saw another dog and then realizing the 2yo had rolled away down the hill and was going off the side of the road and into the weeds and he tipped over into the weeds. Oops - BAD mommy moment. This happened as we were just arriving at my new friend's house in town. Oops!
Finding out a great friend of ours may not be moving closer to us like I thought she might be able to do. They live about an hour away right now.
All in all I'm grateful for this day and all the Lord can teach me through it. I'm especially thankful for his grace through my struggles in parenting and that he can work through any situation!
This comes from my sister-in-law who makes her spaghetti sauce from her extra tomatoes. I'm excited to try it if only I can get enough tomatoes before it freezes! We got a late start with our tomatoes...
Lightly oil the bottom of your kettle with a little oil on a paper towel. Then add the rest of the ingredients...obviously this can be doubled, tripled, etc. if you have more tomatoes ready at once.
Rough chopped tomatoes (probably about 2 pounds) with cores removed 1-2 T. olive oil 1 t. salt bunch of fresh basil, chopped 2 t. chopped garlic (I'd use more if I could) 1/4 t. black pepper 1 t. oregano
I boiled that gently until the tomatoes separated from the skins. Then I put it through my Foley mill, but not enough of the tomato solids went through the mill, just the liquid...so I put it all in my blender and then back through the mill. This time only the seeds and the thinnest of skins remained in the mill. Then I put the sauce back in the kettle, adjusted the seasonings to taste, and simmered it on very low until it reduced to the thickness I wanted. (This takes a long time) I think you could wait to add the seasonings until after the tomatoes have been boiled, pureed, and put through the mill, but I haven't tried it that way.
Sometimes the sauce needs a little sugar to counteract the bite of the tomato. If you read the labels, a lot of commerical sauces contain sugar. Your homegrown tomatoes that are vine ripened will probably be sweet enough. But if the sauce just tastes like something is missing, try adding a tsp. of sugar at a time and see if you like it better.
I'm reading Robin Sampson's book "The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach" and have really appreciated how she gets my focus on God and coming to him for my decisions with homeschooling. In this book she talks about seeking the Lord and waiting on him in prayer. I wanted to share a quote from this book that I really appreciate.
"The third meaning of "wait" is to watch, observe, and take notice. This means that all our spiritual senses must remain expectant. To wait means that we are to be near to God, in His Word and in prayer; and to be still means that we become sensitive enough to catch the faintest whisper and be able to quickly discern His voice."
Later she also says, "We will not watch long or keenly observe the movements of God for a great length of time before He has some word for us. We will hear Him as He bids us to come or go on some mission; or to speak, write, pray, or visit someone; or even to sing for Him. Why? Because we are near enough to feel what is on His heart, and so we are able to enter into fellowship with Him in service."
May we have that nearness of heart to the Lord and wait to hear from Him as we stay near to Him through His Word and prayer.
We moved into our house we're in now back the end of April this year. When we started setting up a garden we only found one outdoor faucet to hook our hose to for watering our garden and all. Unfortunately this faucet was in the front of the house and with our 2 lengths of hose, we could only reach part of the yard with it.
So all summer when we need to water (which is quite often given the fact that we've only had significant rain a few times this summer especially since the end of June), we have our 2yo stand by some 5-gallon buckets and hold the hose in them (gives him a good job) and we haul the buckets over next to the garden areas the hose doesn't reach and the rest of the kids and I take buckets and start filling and dumping from the 5-gallon buckets. I keep swapping buckets and we get done fairly fast, but it can be hard to get them all working well and takes more effort than I love to get it done. Yes, we could have bought another length of hose, but we're on a tight budget and I really didn't want to bug my dh for one.
Today when we were out on our deck I stepped on a spot of our deck by our house where there was a hinge on a board of the deck. I had noticed this hinge and board spot that was different but just thought it was their fix-up job for a broken board or something. When I stepped on it, the board came off the hinge and part of it fell in the hole. My daughter noticed that low and behold, there was another faucet back there for a hose!
So all this summer we've been hauling water back to the back garden when we really had water close enough to just use our hose! I know it will probably take a little longer to water by spraying the garden, but it's so much easier and the kids can take turn spraying the plants which they enjoy anyways. I'm so excited to water the garden now that it's a much easier job! I thank the Lord for this small blessing!
We have been so blessed in our living location and people we've met since moving into our place this summer. We only live on 1/2 acre with no shade trees (although we transplanted 2 that are fairly small). It's great for gardening but doesn't have much else. All around us is vacant land. Behind us and on either side of us are Christmas trees. Across the street from us is an apple tree on some land where there are just a few garages that someone owns who doesn't live around here. Diagonally across from us is vacant land that someone from our church owns who lives elsewhere. On his land there are a number of apple trees with lots of apples on them.
We hadn't seen anyone coming to take any of the apples and checked to see who owned the land. We saw the owner who attends our church today and asked about the apples. He only takes a few for the dear and otherwise they're free for the taking! We made one large ice-cream bucket-full of applesauce already from the apples. I LOVE homemade applesauce and am so grateful to have such great trees with great apples on them! I'm surprised they're already ripe and falling off the trees!
We also have continued to go to another new friend from church's house who has tart cherry trees. We've made the best cherry pie filling / cherry topping from them. What a blessing to have these wonderful trees to be blessed with their fruit even though we don't have the land that we want yet to have our own trees and homestead fruits! God has been so faithful to us!
We overplanted our zucchini and yellow squash this year so we've been trying to use it up. Here are some ideas for using it up.
Shred it and use it in zucchini bread or cake
Shred it and freeze it to use later in zucchini bread or cake
Have your kids hold a fresh organic produce and lemonade stand with the extras. We've done this in town where Grandma lives and they've earned a little $ and gotten rid of some of it.
Eat it as a baked, stuffed zucchini recipe. We boiled it for around 20 minutes until it was somewhat cooked and then halved it and scooped out the insides and mixed it with cooked ground sausage, parmesan cheese, fresh bread crumbs, garlic salt etc.. and it was quite good.
Grill it when you grill meat. To make it even better, first marinade it in Italian salad dressing. I cut it lengthwise into sticks and grilled it like that - much simpler than doing a bunch of little circles on the grill!
Feed it to the baby. My 11 month old loves it. It's nice and soft and easy to eat when cooked!
Give it away - especially offer some to moms with babies!
Most of all, enjoy this fresh produce! Even though it seems like we'll be eating zucchini and yellow squash every meal forever, fall and winter are coming fast! Soon it will be all done until next summer!
I recently found out from spaceweather.com about the meteor shower that is going on now and will be peaking on Sunday night / Monday morning. I've never really been up to see one. I've only been living out in the country for a year or so and until the place we're in now, wasn't living in a place where it was really easy to see the starts, so I may have to try to catch a few meteors this year! Here's a link to find tips for viewing the meteor shower! Let me know if you see them!
I love enjoying the beauty of God's creation. What an amazing God to create such an amazing variety of creatures and plants etc..! It's mind-boggling to just study one creature in depth, let alone to know everything about and create everything in our world! Here are some of my favorite pics I've taken this summer.
We were able to get quite a few cherries from our new friend's trees. We've gone 2x so far to pick and may be able to still pick more. After picking, we pitted the cherries. I found it easiest to use a corn skewer to dig down into the top of the cherry to the side of the pit and get under it and pop it out. Thankfully my 2 oldest kids helped although the cherries were a bit mangled. I figured it was worth it to get it done quicker and good practice for them.
After pitting them, I made the cherries into a cherry pie filling sauce. It was really easy. Here's my recipe for cherry pie filling:
INGREDIENTS:
8 cups tart cherries
5 tablespoons cornstarch
2 1/2 cups sugar
PREPARATION:
Wash and pit cherries. Drain. Combine sugar and cornstarch. Stir in cherries; let stand until juices begin to flow, about 30 mins. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to thicken. Ladle pie filling into can or freeze jars or plastic freezer bags, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace.
Cool at room temperture, not to exceed 2 hours. Seal, label, and freeze.
I froze my cherry pie filling right away. Today I defrosted some and used it to make Cherry Crisp. It was so good! You basically put the cherry pie filling on the bottom and then use any recipe for the topping to make the crisp. The one I used was just flour, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon. We topped it with vanilla ice cream shortly after baking it in the oven. SOOO Good!
I'm hoping to get some more cherries this week before they're done! What a blessing to get these cherries for free!
We've recently changed churches (long story). The new church we're going to so far seems to be a good fit for us. It's out in our rural community so the people who attend are primarily rural farm-type people. I love being around people with the same country interests we have!
One family who we met recently also homeschools and has a number of children ranging from already graduated and married down to around 5 years old. They live only about 5 minutes from here. Last Sunday they invited us over to their place to pick cherries (tart cherries) from their cherry trees and go swimming in their pool. We were happy to accept the invitation! So tonight we drove over to their beautiful homestead. They have a beautiful place in the woods with 37 acres. The yard area has a nice large garden, at least 10 apple trees, 4+ cherry trees, grapes, flowers, the pool... The Lord has blessed them greatly. They are debt free and love to give of the abundance they've been given.
The kids loved the cherry picking and of course had a BLAST swimming in their pool. They were so excited all day looking forward to it! We enjoyed chatting with the parents. We were invited back to pick more cherries as they said they have all the cherries they want and others have taken what they want. We're always invited to swim when we come! They even said that when they're on vacation we're welcome to come use the pool!
How neat it is to see a family blessed by the Lord, walking in his ways, and giving of what they've been given! Though I don't have the abundance they do, I pray that I will be as giving of what I do have to others. We all have many ways we can serve and give to others as we follow God and his guidance each day!
Dustynne , a wonderful, godly young woman (almost a teen!) daughter of a friend of mine tagged me. So now, 5 Reasons Why I Love God:
1. Because he loves me unconditionally - no matter what I do.
2. Because he forgives me and saves me from my sins when I put my faith in Jesus as my Savior.
3. Because he guides me each day through the trials, giving me wisdom and help each day.
4. Because he give me grace to handle any trial that comes my way and teaches me through them.
5. Because he made this wonderful world of nature that we can enjoy and study.
I've always loved this hymn. Cyberhymnal has the full version that was written with extra verses. What a complete story of God's grace and triumph this song has! The verse in bold has always been a favorite of mine and describes how I often feel. Here are the words.
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.
Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.
All-Purpose Tree Fertilizer recipe 3 parts cottonseed meal, soy meal, or blood meal 2 parts finely ground raw phosphate rock or steamed bone meal 3 parts wood ashes, granite rock or greens 1 part dolomitic limestone
Mix all materials. Apply 1 pound of fertilizer for each foot of the drip line diameter of the tree (3 feet = 12 pounds). --------------- Aluminum Pot Cleaner recipe 2 tablespoons cream of tartar 1 quart water
Mix; boil in the aluminum pot for 10 minutes. Scour lightly if needed -------------- Anti-Static Spray recipe 1/4 cup commercial liquid fabric softener 1/4 cup ammonia 2 cups water
Mix ingredients and store in a spray bottle. Spray liberally on the rug, your shoes, chair, desktop, or file cabinet, but do not spray directly onto your computer system ------------- Appliance Cleaner Spray recipe 1 teaspoon borax 3 tablespoons vinegar 2 cups hot water
Combine in a spray bottle. Shake to mix and dissolve borax. Spray on appliances and wipe off with a soft cloth or sponge. ---------------- Aromatic Carpet Cleaner recipe 2 cups baking soda 1/2 cup cornstarch 4 to 5 bay leaves 1 tablespoon cloves
Mix all ingredients together and keep in a closed container. Sprinkle on carpet and let sit for a couple of hours. Vacuum carpet in usual manner. ---------------- Automatic Dishwashing Soap recipe
Like Cascade and Sun Light
Homemade natural formula will safely cut through grease and sanitize your dishes as well.
1/2 cup liquid castile soap 1/2 cup water 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice 3 drops tea tree extract 1/4 cup white vinegar
Combine water and liquid Castile soap. Stir and then add lemon juice, tea tree extract, and vinegar. Stir until blended evenly and store in a squeeze bottle. --------------------- Baby Wipes recipe 2 cups warm water 2 tablespoons baby shampoo 2 tablespoons baby oil
Mix these ingredients. Soak heavy, white paper towels in this solution and tuck into used baby wipes containers or plastic bags to use in the nursery. --------------------- Barbecue Fire Starters recipe 1 pound paraffin Sawdust
Melt paraffin and mix with sawdust. Pour into an empty cardboard egg carton. After the wax is set, the 12 cubes are cut from the egg carton. To start the charcoal, place one cube in the barbecue container and cover with briquettes. Light, then relax until the coals are ready. ------------------- Bathroom Window Frost recipe 4 tablespoons Epsom salt 1 cup beer
Dissolve Epsom salt in beer. Apply with a 2-inch wide brush to the inside of the windowpanes. It dries well, lasts a long time and, when washed off, is easily re-applied. Also, you can get prettier crystallization by dipping a terry cloth in the above mixture and dabbing it on. ---------------- Beeswax Furniture Polish recipe 4 ounces beeswax 2 tablespoons carnauba wax 2 1/2 cups odorless turpentine or mineral spirits
Melt the waxes on HIGH in a microwave or in a double boiler. Remove the waxes from the heat and stir in the turpentine or mineral spirits. When cool, store in a tightly capped container.
Apply the polish with a clean cloth and rub in small circles. Turn the cloth as it becomes dirty. Allow the polish to dry, then buff with a clean cloth. If more than one coat is desired, wait two days between applications. -------------------- Better Baby Wipes recipe
This recipe is from a pediatrician.
I've seen some recipes on Dollar Stretcher for baby wipes, but none mentioned boiling water! When you boil the water it cuts down on the bacteria and the wipes are good for months, not weeks! I used this recipe for my two babies and it worked great! I saved a lot of money doing it this way. Keeping a container of wipes in the car is convenient, too.
2 cups boiling water 2 tablespoons baby bath 2 tablespoons baby lotion (any lotion may be used) 1/2 roll of Bounty Paper Towels (This brand holds together well.)
Boil water; pour water, baby bath and lotion in round container. (Look at Wal-Mart for a round Rubbermaid 10-cup plastic container.)
Put in 1/2 roll of Bounty. Invert container after a few minutes for even distribution.
Take out cardboard; unroll from center. ----------------- Bleach (heavy-duty) recipe 1 gallon water 2 cups chlorinated lime 3 cups washing soda
Mix in an old plastic bucket. Stir well. Let stand, uncovered, for 24 hours. Strain into storage containers. Use as any commercial bleach. AVOID CONTACT WITH SKIN AND FUMES WHEN MIXING. -------------- Christmas Snow recipe 1/3 cup liquid starch 1 cup soap flakes or detergent granules 1 to 2 tablespoons water Blue food coloring
Mix liquid starch into the soap flakes. Add the water and beat with a rotary beater until the mixture has the consistency of marshmallow fluff or thick meringue.
Beat in the blue food coloring drop by drop to achieve a white, icy effect. Using a clean paintbrush, dab the snow onto the tops of your green branches in various artistic patterns.
You can also sprinkle sequins, glitter or confetti over the Christmas Snow.
CAUTION: Make certain that children realize the snow is made of soap and should not be handled or played with. ---------------------- Clogged Drain Remedy recipe 1 cup salt 1 cup baking soda 1 cup vinegar
Mix, then pour down the drain. Follow with 2 quarts boiling water. -------------- Cockroach Control recipe 4 parts borax 2 parts all-purpose flour 1 part cocoa powder
Mix; sprinkle where pets and children cannot get to it. -------------- "Elmers" Glue recipe 1 quart skim milk 3/4 tablespoon baking soda 1 tablespoon white vinegar 10 ounces water
Place milk and vinegar in a double boiler. Cook on low heat and stir as curds form. Drain off liquid. Wash remaining mass with water until the vinegar smell is gone. Put into a clean bowl. Dissolve baking soda in water. Pour over curds and stir until a white paste forms. Seal in suitable containers. -------------- Fireplace Logs recipe 4 pounds copper sulfate 3 pounds rock salt 1 gallon water
Dissolve copper sulfate and rock salt in water in a 5-gallon crock. Wrap old newspapers tightly and tie. Soak the newspapers in the solution, then dry them well and stack away for future use. These logs will burn a beautiful blue for a long time. ----------------------- Leather Upholstery Cleaner recipe 1/2 cup isopropyl alcohol 1 1/2 cups water 1/2 cup vinegar
Mix ingredients. Store in a clean glass jar with a tight-fitting cover. Apply solution to leather upholstery with a soft cloth. Buff dry with another clean, soft cloth. If you want to waterproof the clean leather, apply 1 tablespoon castor oil to a soft cloth, then buff vigorously. ------------------------ Makeup Brush and Sponge Solution recipe 2 parts water 1 part fine fabric cleanser Baking soda
Combine two parts water and one part fine fabric cleanser. Dip makeup brushes into the solution. Rinse in clean water. Submerge brushes again into a baking soda and water mixture to soften the bristles. Rinse again in clean water. Blot excess and allow to dry.
You can also wash them with shampoo and conditioner once a month. Squeeze out excess water, lay them flat overnight and reshape them when dry. --------------- Oopsie" Cleanup recipe To clean pet urine from the carpet, blot up what you can with paper towels.
Mix one teaspoon mild dish-washing detergent in one cup warm water, dip a clean towel in the liquid and, working from outside in, dab at stain. Do not over-wet.
Rinse with fresh water and blot dry.
Mix one-third cup white vinegar with two-thirds cup water and dab on stain. Rinse with water; blot until dry.
Once area is totally dry (after at least 24 hours), sprinkle entire carpet with baking soda (Bicarbonate of soda) or rug deodorizer. Vacuum after a few hours. ------------------ Potpourri Molds recipe 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup salt 1 cup potpourri (old or new), cut finely 1/3 to 1/2 cup water Cookie cutters (the open kind, not closed)
Mix all of the ingredients together and refrigerate for 5 minutes.
Flatten the dough either with your hands or a slightly floured rolling pin. Cut the dough with cookie cutters. Or you can use the dough like clay and make a sculpture.
If using as a hanging ornament, punch a hole in each shape. Set on a wire rack to dry thoroughly. --------------- Salty Fish Bait recipe
Bring a pint of sweet milk to a boil. Add 3 tablespoons salt. Heat until milk starts to foam, and add enough cornmeal until the mixture is thick and tough enough to stay on the hook. You can add bits of cotton to hold it together. ------------------- Sweet Fish Bait recipe
Mix 1 cup flour, 1 cup cornmeal and 10 tablespoons of thick molasses. Mix into stiff dough and roll into bait balls. Drop into boiling water. Boil 10 minutes. Remove and drop into cold water. ----------------- Swiffer Refill Cloths recipe This works well for both the wet and dry Swiffers!
Cut up an old receiving blanket or other similar heavy fabric in the size needed for your "Swiffer." Use and toss in the washing machine to be used again --------------- White Sock Soap recipe 1/4 cup liquid chlorine bleach 1 cup powdered dishwasher detergent 1 gallon hot water
Use a plastic, enamel or stainless steel container (not aluminum) or the kitchen sink. If the fabric or material cannot take hot water, let it cool. Let socks soak for 5 to 10 minutes. Check them and, if needed, soak a little longer. Rinse well and then wash as usual. ------------ Windshield Cleaner (extra-strength) recipe 1/2 cup whiting 1 cup fuller's earth 1/4 cup baking soda
Mix, and add enough water to make a paste. Apply with a sponge. Polish with a dry lint-free cloth. ------------------ Windshield Wiper Spray recipe Water 1/4 cup vinegar
Put vinegar in dispenser first, then fill with water.
***This works great for mirrors too I only use this!!*** ----------------- Wonder Spray recipe 1/4 cup white vinegar 2 teaspoons Borax 1/4 cup liquid soap 32 ounces hot water 20 drops essential oil*
Combine all ingredients. Use as you would any other cleaning spray.
* Lavender is an antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial.
We've really loved having a garden this year. All in all it's going well. We've only had some sunflower tops eaten by deer so far. We're hoping keeping our dog outside on the deck near the garden will keep the deer away as more things are getting close to being picked and eaten! Here are some interesting pics I've taken around the yard / garden.
These small sunflowers were started from bird seed as a homeschool project in the winter! They're beautiful!
Here's a close-up of a flower with a bumblebee inside. They sure love these flowers! Note the pollen flecks on the bee if you can see them... Now the same bumblebee is on a different flower and the pollen is mostly cleaned off. It was interesting to watch the bee stop and clean itself with it's legs. In this pic, you can see one of the legs cleaning it's head
Baby beans popping out of the flowers. It's neat watching how this happens! More baby beans
Fascinating daylily that looks like a triple-stacked daylily! Don't know what happened or why it's like this! See blog below for comparison with a normal daylily!
Here's pics of our new dog, Hooper! All is going well with him. He's really quite good and training is going welll. We're getting him plenty of exercise and in-between he mostly just lies around so that's a good deal for a young dog!
My 8 -year-old ds who loves having a dog!
Dh exercising our dog! I joke that the dog is his personal trainer as he's now regularly exercising more than before!
Thankfully the dog is great with our baby and all the kids!
In my garden I'm growing basil for the first time. I tried making pesto with it the other day and found this recipe from Allrecipes.com . I modified a few things but it was really good. I served it with noodles and chicken for supper. To make it into a sauce for the noodles, I just thinned it down and stretched it by adding some of the water I used to boil the noodles in to it until it was the right consistency and could be mixed throughout the noodles.
Any other people have ideas of what they do with their fresh basil?
INGREDIENTS:
3 cups fresh basil leaves
3/4 cup chopped pine nuts
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
olive oil mixed in until it's the right consistency
salt and pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS: In a food processor, blend together basil leaves, nuts, garlic, and cheese. Pour in oil slowly while still mixing. Stir in salt and pepper.
Today we went and got a dog off of freecycle! It was nice to not have to pay a lot of money. We got a 9mo. black lab / German shepherd mix named Hooper. He is a nice dog who was raised with children. The mom is going back to work in Sept. and doesn't have enough time for this rambunctious dog and they already have another dog as well so they gave him away to us!
We made a long drive (2 1/2 hours) to get him. He definitely needs some training work although they worked with him some. Right after we got him home my son was playing with him and he was on his retractable leash and he got to the end of it and it jerked out of my 8yo ds' hand and he was loose running around. We chased him to over by a neighbor a couple of blocks away in distance where he stopped outside the fence of their dogs. At least it gave us a chance to meet and get to know our neighbors better!
I know these next few days/weeks will be the hardest time I'm sure adjusting to him and having him get used to being here. Hopefully it won't be too hard! I'm not experienced with dogs and dog training so it will definitely be a learning experience! I'll have to post pics soon!
I just had to take some pics of these beautiful daylillies! I know they're common but they're so pretty. We've been cutting some and watching them open and close in our house as they're planted in a place we don't see them often otherwise. Enjoy the beautiful summer color!
Clover with tiny grasshopper on top
Monarch caterpillar
Bee on small sunflower
cecropia moth caterpillar
Triple Orange Kwanso Daylily
These small sunflowers were started from bird seed as a homeschool project in the winter! They're beautiful!
Now the same bumblebee is on a different flower and the pollen is mostly cleaned off. It was interesting to watch the bee stop and clean itself with it's legs. In this pic, you can see one of the legs cleaning it's head
Baby beans popping out of the flowers. It's neat watching how this happens!
More baby beans
My 8 -year-old ds who loves having a dog!
Dh exercising our dog! I joke that the dog is his personal trainer as he's now regularly exercising more than before!
Thankfully the dog is great with our baby and all the kids!
Our Journey Into The Country - A Faith Walk